novembro 05, 2008

The Starlets - Out Into The Days From Here (2008)

Dream-pop from Scotland. Like Belle Sebastian.

"If you really want to know.... Once upon a time, singer Biff Smith's sister Gill attended The Glasgow School of Art where drummer Craig Laurie was working. Gill mentioned Craig's name to Biff who was trying unsuccessfully to get a band together and they met up for a rehearsal. On the day of the rehearsal Craig had been to a football match and was slightly the worse for wear after having "a few". He entered the practice room, sat behind the drum kit and fell backwards off the drum stool. It was love at first sight. Over the next year or two, other members came and went until The Starlets finally settled on their first team of Biff Smith - voice, Mark McSwiggan - Guitars, Stephen McGourty - Bass, Craig Laurie - Drums, Nigel Baillie - Brass, and Iain White - Strings, in time to deliver their debut album "Surely tomorrow you'll feel blue" (2001). Inspired in part by alternative guitar pop and old string-laden movie soundtracks, it was a lush poetic album which, despite being utterly out of step with prevailing musical trends, gained critical acclaim, winning "Jockrock album of the year", was included in "Is this Music" top 100 albums by Scottish artists, and found an audience for the band beyond their home town of Glasgow. This continued with the release of the second album "Further into night forever" (2003) which was again a critical success and brought the band to the attention of the Japanese label Muzak which licensed the record for Japan and helped promote The Starlets' first ever live performances in Tokyo. The new album has now been completed. Release dates and live shows in the UK and Japan are being announced. See gig listing for details."Myspace Release